Many children grow up hearing their parents tell them that they can be anything they want to be, do any job they can dream up.

And though we know the reality is that it’s a lot harder for some than others to reach said dreams, unfair funding practices are factors that just shouldn’t be in play.

A Pennsylvania judge ruled Tuesday the state’s funding of public education falls short —and even goes as far as violating students’ constitutional rights — when siding with poorer districts in a lawsuit that was first launched eight years ago in pursuit of potentially billions of dollars in additional annual support.

Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer said in an 800-page ruling that the state had not met its obligations to the poorest public schools. (None of which, by the way, are here in Butler County.)

The decision was hailed as “a historic victory for students” and will “change the future for millions of families.”

It’s laughable to think that an eight-year lawsuit would come to such an abrupt, happy end. This decision is, however, a step in the right direction.

And in the Thursday edition of the Butler Eagle, our reporting highlighted how the lack of broadband access is affecting families here in Butler County.

It takes part-time wedding photographer Margie Mackrell hours to upload wedding photos — a process that has improved by upgrading to a mobile hot spot plan, but still takes longer at home than at her brother’s house a half-hour away.

The promise of at least $100 million in federal aid for broadband expansion projects in unserved and underserved areas has us hopeful that people like Mackrell will soon be able to do their jobs — whatever they choose, from wherever they are — but it’s hard to cling too closely to that hope when a map of broadband service shows that broadband is actually just fine here in Butler County.

The Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband map indicates 80% to 100% accessibility to fixed broadband and 100% accessibility to mobile broadband across Butler County.

But it’s not all sunshine and roses. Three townships in Butler County — Worth, Lancaster and Muddy Creek — recently made pleas to the county for broadband-related funding. They were sent back to work together with a potential $500,000 from the American Rescue Plan set aside for that purpose.

We do applaud the efforts that were taken to collect issues and concerns about the broadband map and are anxious to see how that pans out.

It’s unfortunate, but where you live can either give you a leg up or keep you down, but when it’s all about the money — and that money is on the line — it’s crucial that steps are taken to make the process as fair as possible.

— TL